


Quidditch

by ohmygoshcheese



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF, james is an idiot, what are endings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 19:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6128155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygoshcheese/pseuds/ohmygoshcheese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James is stupid and Lily needs to clear out her thoughts</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quidditch

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my dear friend, Teresa. Lily and James are her favorite couple ever and she was sad and cold one day. So this happened.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly. There was a cool breeze blowing gently, rustling the leaves of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Birds were chirping, and little animals scuttled across the grounds. The Lake was shining brightly. inviting everyone to dip their feet in to cool off. Today, the Hogwarts grounds were paradise.

Or so James figured. He was currently stuck in the dungeons, bending over a bubbling yellow potion that was supposed to be navy blue. A bubble in the potion popped, emitting a smell like rotten eggs. James coughed, eyes watering as he flipped through his book, trying to find where he went wrong, hoping to salvage it.

“What’s that awful smell?” a quiet female voice made James look up. At the cauldron next to his, Lily Evans was wrinkling her nose, green eyes narrowed in his direction. Her potion was a lovely dark blue.

James grinned, “Hey, Evans, help me out here.”

Lily frowned, “I don’t know how to fix that, even if I wanted to help you. I just know how to make it the first time.” With that, she turned away and ignored any of his other attempts to get her attention.

“James,” whispered Remus, “please pay attention to your potion. It’s starting to melt the cauldron.”

“Huh?” James turned around to find his cauldron looking much more liquid than before. He swore as the cauldron completely collapsed, soaking everyone’s shoes. People yelled and stood on their chairs, trying to get away from the acidic liquid now coating the floor.

“Uh, I can fix that,” James said, keeping his usual grin plastered on his face.

“Do you even know what ‘that’ is?” asked Lily from her perch on top of her chair. The bottom of her robes was smoking a little.

“It’s probably nothing,” James mumbled, flashing his teeth at her. He gingerly placed a foot down on the floor only to immediately pull it back when it started hissing at the contact with the liquid. “Probably…” he muttered, his confidence melting away like his cauldron.

“Way to go, Potter,” a voice snarled behind him. James turned around to see Severus Snape standing on a stool next to Lily, waving his wand to help her clean her robes.

James felt his eye twitch as Lily smiled and thanked Snape. He clenched his fists at the small blush that colored Snape’s cheeks. Lily, seemingly oblivious, started teaching him how to syphon up liquids with his wand, and the two of them quickly cleaned up James’ mess.

Just as the last bit of acidic liquid was syphoned up, the professor finally decided to come back.

“What in Merlin’s beard happened here?” he cried, eyes automatically focusing on James.

“Why do you immediately look at me?” cried James indignantly.

“Because this is your fault,” scowled Snape.

“Well, yes, but he didn’t know that,” said James grumpily.

Professor Slughorn sighed, “You forgot the rat tails, didn’t you?”

James was about to retort that he was, in fact, not that stupid when he glanced back at his table and saw not a single rat tail. He sighed, “I guess I did.”

“Of course you did,” sighed Slughorn. “Perhaps if you focused on potions instead of flirting with Miss Evans all the time, you’d actually be a decent student.

“I wasn’t flirting with her!” said James a little too quickly. He glanced at Lily, but she refused to meet his eyes. He was pleased to see a light blush on her cheeks.

“Young love aside, I want you to stay behind to clean up the rest of this mess, Potter,” said Slughorn.

“But, Professor Slughorn, I have Quidditch practice tonight! I can’t stay to clean up all this!” protested James.

“And I have things to grade,” responded Slughorn. “You made this mess. You clean it up. Perhaps you’ll be more careful from now on. Class dismissed.”

James watched gloomily as his classmates picked their way through the room. Sirius laughed and clapped James on the back saying he’ll let the Quidditch team know what happened to their captain.

Once everyone was gone, James dropped his silly grin and stared at the mess all around him. Pouting, he got to work picking things up, hissing as leftover droplets of his failed potion came into contact with his bare hands. This was going to be a long night…

 

Two and a half hours, several blisters, and one missed Quidditch practice later, James emerged from the dungeon. He vowed that he’d never go in that accursed place again. A pleasant smell wafted towards him, and his stomach growled. However, he opted to skip dinner tonight, so he didn’t have to face his Quidditch team. They were probably very angry at him, and he didn’t want to deal with that tonight.

He didn’t want to stay in his dorm just yet, so he went up there, grabbed his broom, and quietly stole out the front door. The beautiful day had faded into a beautiful evening. It was still warm, but a cool breeze ruffled James’ messy hair.

His feet automatically lead him to the Quidditch pitch. He mounted his broomstick and took off. The wind in his hair cleared his head of everything but flying. He veered his broomstick to the side and left the pitch. He soared over the Hogwarts grounds, taking in the peace of twilight. Up here he didn’t have to be anyone; he just had to exist. No pretense to keep up, no one to impress, just himself.

A spot of red among all the greens and browns shook him out of his reverie. Curious, he brought his broom closer to the ground to see who else dared to risk staying out past curfew. His heart did a strange little jump in his chest when he realized it was Lily Evans. His heart had been doing that a lot around her lately. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

Still, he put on his usual grin and brought his broom down to her level. She still hadn’t noticed him and seemed to be lost in thought as she walked. He glided up to her side and glanced at her profile. Her hair was blowing gently in the wind and it reminded him of the warm fire that was always crackling in the Gryffindor common room.

“Not lost are ya, Evans?” James broke the peaceful atmosphere with his cheerful voice.

Lily gasped and jumped, putting a hand over her heart. “Potter! Don’t do that! What are you doing out here? It’s nearly dark!” she cried.

“Uh, you know you’re out here, too?” James laughed at Lily’s flustered look.

She didn’t answer and instead took deep breaths to calm herself down. “”So, what’re you doing out her by yourself?” James asked after a couple moments.

“I- I wanted to think,” she answered quietly, looking back out over the Hogwarts grounds.

James, for once, was silent for a few moments, feeling his heart do those funny flip flops again. Then he said, “Wanna fly with me?”

Lily turned to him with her eyebrows furrowed. “What?” she asked.

James wasn’t sure why he suddenly asked her that, but there was no point in backing out now. “On my broomstick. I always fly when I want to think. It’s so calming up there,” he said hesitantly.

Lily only stared at him, her expression blank. James felt twitchy and his cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. What a stupid thing to ask her. “I mean, you don’t have to. I know we’re not exactly close and flying isn’t everyone’s thing and you probably want to go back in-”

“Is it safe?” Lily cut off his rambling. She was staring apprehensively at his broom.

“Huh?” James blinked. “Oh. Yeah! It’s totally safe! Especially with me flying it,” he said, winking at her goofily.

“How do I get on?” she asked nervously.

James stared at her in amazement. She actually wanted to fly with him?

“James?” 

“Oh, right,” James shook his head. “Here, watch me and then get on behind me.” He showed her the proper way to mount a broomstick with a smirk on his face. Finally, he was better at something than the brilliant Lily Evans.

Lily carefully swung one leg over the broom. “Now what?” she asked as she sat down, surprised to find the broom so comfortable.

James turned to glance at her, their faces so close he could see amber specks in her green eyes. “Hold on tight,” he said with a grin.

“Hold on to what?” she asked, but he’d already taken off. Her arms immediately wrapped themselves around him to keep herself from falling off.

James slowed the broom down to give Lily time to calm down. He gently glided over the Forbidden Forest, acutely aware of Lily’s arms around him. The sound for a while was the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind. 

Behind him, Lily sighed and murmured,” It’s so peaceful up here.”

“Told ya,” James said. “I come up here when I need to think. For some reason, being up this high clears my head.”

“Everything seems so distant,” Lily said quietly. Then she sighed again and laid her head James’ broad back. He stiffened, but she said, “Keep flying for a bit, okay, James?”

He relaxed and nodded, “Sure, Lily.”

They drifted above the Hogwarts grounds for a while until the sun was nearly gone. A chill was in the air, and Lily started shivering, so James gently lowered them down. They walked quietly back into the school and up the stairs. The Gryffindor common room was still fairly full, but hardly anyone paid them any attention. They climbed the stairs and stood outside their respective dorms.

“Thank you, James. Can we do that again sometime?” Lily said.

James nodded. “Whenever you want. Just come find me.”

Lily smiled, then did something that surprised James. She kissed him on the cheek, said, “Goodnight,” and went inside her room.  
James stood rooted to the spot for a rather long time until his friends came upstairs.

“James?” said Sirius. “Where’ve you been?”

James didn’t answer, and instead, walked into the dorm in a daze. 

Sirius looked at Remus and Peter in confusion. They shrugged and followed James. They’d question him in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, how do endings work?


End file.
